Chapter 9
Allen
I looked in the mirror as I mussed my hair. I wanted to look like some cocky asshole who was looking to win a few bucks tonight as opposed to a police officer. I was wearing worn jeans with boots and a buttoned black shirt and my scruff was even longer than before.
Captain Peterson was pleased with the report and had made the calls to get a search warrant that allowed the cops to look through everything in the club. They were just waiting on some approvals, and he clapped me on the back when he thanked me for my hard work.
He didn’t know the half of it. He didn’t know that I bought one of the victims—saved her, and he had no idea that I was playing dirty poker for the money to pay for her tonight. With any luck, he never would.
I’d thanked him and told him that it was no problem. I hope they found enough to lock that creep away for doing what he did. I managed to save my girl but what about the others?
I couldn’t help but to walk up and tell that slime ball that she was mine after looking into her eyes. They were scared that night, and I saw all her emotions as she looked around. I could admit that I admired her body as well, but I was trying not to focus too much on that right now. She needed to want me before anything happened between us, and I didn’t have the time that night to know if that was the case.
I heard a knock at the door and went to get it, letting Brandon in.
“Ready for this?” His smile was tense.
I took a deep breath and nodded. He was dressed like I was, and I thought we both looked like a couple of guys in Vegas for some fun. That was what I was going to portray myself as, and we already had a story about talking to a drunk guy at a casino. That was our excuse for knowing about the poker game, though we were both too drunk to remember names and details.
He drove tonight so I could get my head straight about all of this. I played poker with some of the other police officers and knew my way around a table, but this was a lot more than drinks with the guys.
I stared out at the street as we drove, thinking back to the night at the club when I saw her. I played back the feeling that filled my soul and reminded myself why I was breaking so many rules. I just had to get through the next few days and get the girl settled. After that, I could start dropping hints at work about my new girlfriend I met in the casino. She was terrific, and we were having a wonderful time. Something had to explain the fact that I might be getting married.
Brandon turned into the parking lot of the restaurant and parked in the back. He looked at me. “I found out the game is in a warehouse behind the main building.”
“Great,” I replied as I surveyed the scene. It wasn’t far away but still a little remote and off in the dark. We got out of the car and strode over to the dingy building where a couple of massive guys stood by the door, glaring at us.
Brandon told them the code word to get in, and tonight, it happened to be “river.” I guess it changed nightly to keep people that didn’t belong here away. The man nodded at him, and we walked inside to look around. The warehouse was large and mostly used for storage, but there was a makeshift bar in one corner along with a big table at which about ten men sat. The room was filled with smoke, and I narrowed my eyes to see more as we sauntered forward.
I drained my savings for the buy in. I made good money but it wasn’t cheap living here in a house, and I lived simply. I touched my pocket where the money was secured since I didn’t want to give anybody a chance to see my wallet with my ID in it. We approached the bar and asked for two beers before looking over at the table. It was surrounded by three even bigger men. Along with the dealer, they were watching everything closely, and I felt my heart jump inside of my chest a bit.
The dealer looked us over as we slid into some seats, and I nodded at him with a lift of my chin. “You boys have the cash for this?” His voice was low.
“Sure do,” I replied grinning and reached for my cash. Brandon had a little more money than I did at the end of each month, and he wanted to play as well. We were both pretty good at the game.
I looked around the table, greeting the other men that all looked older and incredibly shady. This wasn’t good. I faked an easy smile and said something about how fun the strip was, playing the role of a tourist. It was my most important one yet.
They basically ignored us, and the dealer passed out cards to the eight of us playing. As familiar as I was with the game, my hands were shaking a little bit, so I rested them on the table as I looked at my hand. Brandon gave me a quick look, and I decided what my next move was as the dealer revealed his card.
Fuck me. He could have a great hand. I could lose everything tonight and then I’d have nothing. The guys playing went through their choices as I looked over my hand again and realized that I had a good hand myself. I was just too nervous to see it before. I kept my face neutral as some of the others got more cards and then slowly dropped their cards on the table, cursing. The dealer glanced at their failed hands and then at Brandon and me. Brandon revealed his cards first, showing a four of a kind. I sucked in my breath and dropped my royal flush down as the table stared silently at us.
The dealer looked down at the cards, and the three big men leaned forward as he reached into a metal drawer and counted out bills. He handed Brandon a stack as well as me, and we looked at each other with grins on our faces. I realized that I was holding fifty-five thousand dollars in my hand. I could get her now. “What do you think? That’s pretty lucky!” I looked at Brandon with a signal in my eyes that I wanted to leave and he clapped me on the back.
“Hell, yes. We get to back home with some money. Thanks, guys.”
We stood up and the men that were guarding the table stared blandly at us. The others were glaring at us, and I made my way slowly towards the door to leave as we laughed and played it up. In reality, we were very aware of our surroundings and ready to fight if necessary. I tucked the money into the same pocket as before and hooked my thumb inside to keep it there as we walked out the front door of the warehouse. The guys gave us a surprised look and Brandon laughed. “We got lucky, boys. It must be tourist luck or something.”
We turned to go to the car, hurrying as soon as we were out of sight. Brandon started the car and pulled out while I looked around, relieved to see nobody coming after us. I trusted few in this fucking city, especially when it came to illegal activities. He drove to my house as I watched closely behind us to check if we were followed.
Once I knew that we were in the clear, Brandon pulled into my driveway and the open garage next to my car. We closed the garage and headed inside to count the money again and look closely at it. I could see them giving us counterfeit bills but upon close examination, they were real. “Holy shit. I can’t believe this,” I said as I set mine on the table and ran my hands through my hair.
“That was lucky. I didn’t want to sit there any longer than I had to,” Brandon murmured as he looked at his own cash. “I should consider buying a place like this. Settle down some.”
“I’d wait on that. We might both lose our jobs if any of this gets out,” I warned him as we shared a look. My nerves were still racing, and I took a deep breath to calm down.
Once I could talk, I dug out the cheap card that Ricky had given me and dialed the number from my home phone. He answered after one ring, and I greeted him like the guy that was just at the game. I needed to be the cocky kid who wanted a virgin bride. “I have the money. I am going to grab a marriage license and pick her up first thing tomorrow if that works for you.”
“How does ten work for you? I have late nights as a club owner.” I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself since he was nothing more than a shady club owner, but I agreed. He told me to meet him behind the club, and I freaked out as I wondered if they’d be searching the place. I know that they were still waiting.
“That works. I’ll see you then.” I ended the call and grabbed my laptop to check emails. I’d be fucked if they were searching the place as I arrived to pick up my prize. We all would. Scanning the lines, I checked a few and realized that they were going to go in Thursday night. They wanted the place to be jumping when they searched to see things for themselves.
I would be long gone by that time and let out a sigh. I decided to rent a car to get her just to be extra cautious, in case I was followed. We were damn lucky that nobody caught us tonight in Brandon’s car.
“Everything good?” he asked.
“I am meeting them behind the club tomorrow morning,” I replied, nodding. I secured our money in the safe in the closet along with my extra weapons and paperwork before we headed out to eat, feeling a lot more relaxed than earlier.
We went to the diner and grabbed a table in the back before I let my shoulders slump. “Holy fuck. This is happening.”
"Yeah, it is,” he replied as I stared at him. “What are you going to do once you have her in your car?”
“You mean the rental car I am getting in the morning,” I replied. “I have no fucking clue. Take her to breakfast?”
“She might ask you to take her ass straight home, wherever that might be.” Brandon smirked as he reached for his water.
We ordered some dinner and chatted about the following day, with Brandon ribbing me here and there as we ate. I knew that he’d support me no matter what, and I needed someone to have my back in this. We might take a long fall together, and we’d need someone.
He went to his house after we finished, and I went home and sat on the couch and stared blankly. I was going to have a woman here with me tomorrow if everything went well. I got up and started to clean, burning up the nervous energy that I had as I played the next day through my mind on repeat.